A forklift operates remotely in a Geodis warehouse in Le Mans, France.

French logistics firm Geodis and Silicon Valley remote driving software start-up Phantom Auto have announced a partnership for developing remote-controlled forklifts, a move that can make forklift driving an office job.

According to Reuters, Stéphanie Hervé, chief operating officer of Geodis for Western Europe, Middle East and Africa, believes technology could eventually help alleviate the challenges of hiring employees for warehouse work and also enable people with disabilities to have a new kind of job.

"With this solution, we create a new environment of working which could probably be more attractive for young talent, for digital natives," she says.

Phantom Auto demonstrated the solution in a warehouse in Mountain View, California. The driver was sitting 15 m away at a desk, one hand on the wheel, the other manoeuvring a joystick, while watching a monitor featuring six sub-screens showing the vantage point of the corresponding cameras positioned on the forklift.

Phantom Auto co-founder Elliot Katz says his company has had customers remotely operating from Asia a forklift located in California.

The technology will be paired with Linde forklifts at Geodis warehouses.